By
Cody “Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor



From the very beginning of its creation, Ten Ton Hammer has been
defined as a network that focuses squarely on massively multiplayer
online gamers and everything associated with those titles. MMO gamers
have no other place where they can go to find such an extensive
collection of MMOG editorials, reviews, previews and interviews.
However, being an MMO gamer isn’t simply about logging in to
your favorite MMOG and toiling around through various worlds.



In fact, being an MMO gamer means that you have a whole collection of
different agendas you have to deal with, ranging from the speed of your
graphics card to the threat of malware coming into to your precious
hard drive and ripping out its innards. Although Ten Ton Hammer
doesn’t review graphics cards, CPUs, or any of that fancy
hardware stuff, we do take an interest in those elements of gaming. You
can’t ignore what you use everyday, right?

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GameSafe uses less
processor power than these leading brands. The less processor your
antivirus program uses, the more power left for gaming!

So when I was introduced to BitDefender’s Game Safe antivirus
software, it seemed a perfect opportunity to do a little cross genre
reporting. Like most online gamers, I have been on the receiving end of
more than one Trojan virus and have suffered the gaming scars to prove
it. Back when I was just a wee lad, my parents hadn’t a clue
about computer viruses and when they opened up a rogue email from
[email protected], our computer – and my hundreds of
hours of saved games – went up in digital smoke.



Even since that day, I have been a stalwart defender of my computers
files, but I have still received plenty of unfortunate encounters with
the bad side of computing. Therefore I knew that I had to jump into
Game Safe and see whether this antivirus bundle would actually protect
me against viruses while keeping out of my gaming.



Though I am far from the expert on antivirus protection, I can say that
my previous history with antivirus software hasn’t been
spectacular. Despite doing a fairly adequate job of keeping my computer
virus and malware free, my former antivirus software packages have a
fairly consistent problem of popping up with an
“Alert!’ in the middle of a gaming session or
deciding to download the latest set of content while my client is
churning through a recent raid. Generally – and I think most
of you would agree – this is extremely annoying.



BitDefender’s Game Safe software changes the rules of the
game a bit. While it still boasts all of the standard nuances that a
good antivirus package should have – antivirus, antirootkit,
antispyware, antiphishing, and firewall features – it also
does all without leaving an incredibly huge footprint on your machine.
When I had Game Safe passively running in the background of my machine
it barely made a dent on my performance.



But then again, any performance hit is worse than none at all. So the
developers at BitDefender have made a fancy little option –
which I think all antivirus companies should adopt – for us
gamers. It’s called “Game Mode.” Sounds
cool, right? It is.



When BitDefender’s Game Mode is activated, it virtually
eliminates any annoyance that your antivirus program could create on
your computer. Game Safe pop ups are disabled. Alerts are disabled. The
protection level is set to permissive and the firewall is set to
“Game Mode” virtually insuring that your gaming
experience will be worry free. Of course, BitDefender devs suggest that
you turn Game Mode off whenever you hop out of your game to insure
computer security, and this is done with a quick Alt+G click on your
keyboard.



For those of you interested in purchasing Game Safe, you can get the
entire product for $24.95 which includes a year subscription to the
product’s software updates and downloads. Game Safe is
available from a variety of different online retailers and for direct
download. It’s a pretty cheap purchase for a year’s
worth of peace of mind.



And on top of that, Game Safe is also holding a contest with Ten Ton
Hammer for a chance to win a free copy of the Game Safe software. But
you’d better hurry, the contest will be ending shortly so
don’t miss your opportunity to get a free copy of Game Safe!
target="_blank">Click here to enter the contest!



All in all, my experience with Game Safe has been remarkably care free.
Virtually nothing has occurred to my computer in the weeks that
I’ve had Game Safe running. And when you’re
reviewing a antivirus package, nothing is a good thing. Thanks to
BitDefender, I now have a comprehensive antivirus software package that
won’t interfere with my gaming. Kudos to you, BitDefender!



target="_blank"> style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">(Editor's
Note: If you want to win a free copy of Game Safe, click here!)